


The Ripples Remain

by DGCatAniSiri



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24921418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGCatAniSiri/pseuds/DGCatAniSiri
Summary: Ending the war was probably the easy part.Now there's the clean-up.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	The Ripples Remain

**Author's Note:**

> This fic developed weirdly. I wanted to do a basic "Finn/Poe after the movie" thing, then it got into "you know the galaxy is still kinda fucked even if Palpatine and his cronies are all dead..." and the Finn/Poe stuff nearly fell by the wayside, but don't worry! It comes back at the end with a vengeance!

The thing no one discusses about ending a war is that it echoes. It drags on, even though the battles that matter are now in the past, nothing but fodder for the history books. What remains is just the wheels that turn and pay no mind to the reality that most of the people most prone to actually responsible are probably dead.

There were a lot of loans and credit that General Organa had banked her name on and little else to get the Resistance back on its feet after Crait. The debt collectors didn’t seem eager to just ‘let it slide’ because the General was dead and it had all been in the name of ending an existential threat to the galaxy. No, these people wanted their credits, probably in the name of building themselves back up to the top of various heaps that were in flux with all the galaxy’s major powers dead. 

There was another thing no one discusses – the war profiteers continue on, probably riding high even though the well had been tapped. With the First Order breaking up into warlords and pirates, and the New Republic still not back on its feet given the destruction of the Hosnian system, the real, consolidated power in the galaxy wasn’t the Resistance, whatever shape it might evolve into from here. It was the war profiteers, who’d been more than willing to play both sides.

They didn’t want to run the galaxy. They just wanted to squeeze it dry and laugh about those struggling below them.

It pissed Poe off. 

“We didn’t fight the First Order just so these leeches could come along and bankrupt us before we even could try to rebuild anything!” he said, tossing yet another ‘final notice’ transmission from some bank from a planet in the Corporate Sector he’d never even heard of aside. He had half a mind to simply send these all off to some wasteland – Jakku, maybe, no one had any reason to go there, after all, and, considering the misery it had brought Rey, it felt bitterly satisfying to contemplate sending these bloodsuckers off towards what’s-his-face who had always shorted her for her salvage back when she was stuck there.

Finn, his compatriot in digging through the various paperwork, mostly in the name of looking at what actually deserved their attention, gave him a fond smile. “It’s a lot of bantha poodoo to me, too.”

As if in response to Poe’s outburst, the door opened, revealing both Rose and Connix, each holding more datapads. Poe immediately groaned. “If those are more collection notices, you can toss them into a black hole...” he muttered, slumping and defeatedly burying his head in his hands.

“Not collection notices,” Connix said, though there was still a note of something in her voice.

“It’s a notice from the ‘New Republic Council.’ Or at least, that’s what they’re calling themselves this week,” Rose clarified. The New Republic’s remaining governing officials, mostly bureaucrats too far down the chain of responsibility to actually need to be anywhere near the capitol when the Hosnian system had been destroyed, seemed to change their name and power structure with the setting of the sun of whatever world they were calling home at a given moment. “They’re officially retroactively granting leave to any and all members of the Republic military who left to join the Resistance, meaning that our people can return with a shiny medal and no blemish on their records.”

The silence that fell in the room wasn’t quite expected. Finn looked around at the three of them, wondering what had prompted that. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It’s not a bad thing,” Connix clarified. “Just... A lot of them are dead, of course.” A glance at Poe reminded Finn of one of those names in particular, Snap, and how much he was still mourning the loss of a dear friend. “But the thing is, with officially being brought back into the New Republic military, it also means that... the Resistance is over.”

That got home for Finn. They’d been operating as “the Resistance” since he’d joined, and the idea of it being over...

And that came home for Poe as well. “Do they say anything else about it?”

Rose shrugged. “Well, there are promotions and commendations abound, for the living and the dead. Survivors are being offered a chance to take a discharge, considering everything. Not a bad deal with the pension, for example. Enough to get a home on most mid-Rim worlds, live comfortably for the rest of your life... Wouldn’t be surprised if most of our people take them up on it.”

The war hadn’t been long, but it had been bloody. For every one survivor of Exegol alone, there were at least five dead, saying nothing of the battles that had come before. Hell, Crait had nearly wiped them out in the first place. 

“Our people do deserve a rest,” Poe sighed, more than willing to allow that some people deserved to have the quiet life that the First Order had denied them in the first place.

Still, Finn didn’t look all that comfortable with the talk. “What about... the stormtrooper deserters?” he asked.

Sometimes, Poe found it easy to... if not forget, then not focus on the fact that Finn had been a stormtrooper. It hadn’t mattered to the Resistance, and when they’d discovered Jannah and the others on Kef Bir, convincing them to join up... Well, for the Resistance, they were heroes. But to the New Republic, they were “the enemy.” Because even if they’d been drafted as child soldiers, they had still fought for the First Order, even if they’d walked away, or, as in Finn’s case, never actually fired a shot in the name of the First Order. 

The look on Connix and Rose’s faces said that it could be worse, but it wasn’t going to be anything like anyone who had served in the Resistance would have accepted. “They’re offering the New Republic’s thanks, and...” Rose paused, pulling the datapad up to read word for word. “...they ‘are choosing not to pursue any charges at this time.’” She gave the quote her best posh accent, sounding uncannily like all the core world representatives who so casually declared that now it was “the New Republic” who had won at Exegol. That one had won little appreciation among the Resistance members who’d survived. 

Poe, understandably, just stared in shock at the quote. “’Choosing not to pursue any charges at this time’? Are they...? Are those fuckers really trying to argue that these people who were stolen as children and pressed into service for the First Order are criminals?” This was offensive on almost every level, an affront to everything that the Resistance had formed to fight. The Rebellion itself had been formed on the back of Imperial deserters, how was the New Republic going to hold the same against First Order deserters.

With a disgusted sigh, Connix shook her head. “I get the impression that they want to have someone to blame, to put on trial. With Palpatine, Snoke, Ren, Pryde, and Hux all dead, all they have are the ones they can get their hands on.”

“And most of the surviving admirals are turning warlord as it is, fighting among one another and killing themselves in the process. By the time the clean up is done, they’re probably not going to have much to show for their efforts of gathering the First Order’s leaders,” Rose added. She glanced to Finn, seeing how he was taking it. So far, he hadn’t made any particular reaction, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming.

Of course, it was Poe who blew his lid first. “So, what, they’re keeping the door open to scapegoat the stormtrooper deserters, the grunt soldiers who turned their back on the First Order when they had a chance?”

“Symbolism,” Connix said. The derision towards the New Republic’s attitude dripped off the word almost tangibly. 

“I mean, at least they’re saying they’re not pressing charges. I suppose that’s something,” Rose said, her voice making it clear that, between this ‘something’ and an empty sack, she’d take the sack.

Finally, Finn sighed. It was the first sign of life he’d made since Rose had quoted the New Republic’s message. “It’s something, for right now, anyway. They’re not pressing any charges. Just... making it clear that the deserters... that we... don’t have a place in the Republic.” He spoke flat, as if he was just talking about the weather, not... his life.

“It’s a load of crap, that’s what it is,” Poe said, growing increasingly pissed off at the very idea. “A bunch of politicians who couldn’t be assed to join the war effort until passing some supplies at the tail end of the war are deciding your fate?” He looked to Finn with an almost pleading look. “No way. They don’t get the right.”

“They’re deciding not to do anything right now,” Finn said.

“Yeah, and the second they decide that they aren’t going to get any of the remaining big names on whatever list of First Order officials they’re looking at, they’re gonna start looking at you.” Poe wouldn’t let that happen.

But then the look on Finn’s face changed. It was a realization hitting him. “They won’t look at me. Probably not Jannah or any of the others from Kef Bir. We have people like you who will vouch for us turning our backs on the First Order, that we picked up blasters and fought back against them. We’re too visible, too respected to turn against.”

It took a moment, but the pieces clicked for Rose first. “By the Force... You mean they’d go looking for other enclaves like Jannah’s, put them on parade, give them a show trial, and...” She moved to one of the chairs at the table, the datapad clattering on the table as it was almost instantly forgotten, horrified at the idea of the Republic that she’d fought to restore doing something so... Imperial.

The quartet was quiet, contemplating that. “It wouldn’t start that way,” Connix said, her voice dead of emotion as she realized how little faith she had in the New Republic. “They’d put them in detention first, meant to be certain of their intentions. The Republic would probably even mean that at first. But then, somewhere along the line, there’d be some kind of trouble, some problem, that leads to a fight, someone getting hurt, maybe killed. Then they’d want blood. And so on and so on.” She shook her head. “It’s the pattern that has happened, over and over, to this point. It led to the Clone Wars, to the Civil War, to... whatever they’re going to call this one.”

“No.” 

Poe was surprised that he hadn’t said it first. Instead, Finn had risen from his seat, leaning on the table with a determined cast to his eye. “We are not letting this cycle continue.”

“I’m on board with that,” Poe said, flashing Finn a cocky smile. There wasn’t much he could think of that could pry him away from Finn’s side in general, but standing up against corruption? Hell, that had been what had pushed him to join up with the Resistance in the first place. “What’s the plan?”

“Simple. We find them first. We give them a home, and give them people who will fight for them.” Finn had the determination that Poe, Rose, and Connix all recognized well – it was the same kind of determination that had driven General Leia Organa.

And it was spreading. The whirling of Connix’s brain could practically be heard as she started going over the various angles. “We haven’t formally dissolved the Resistance. And, frankly, the New Republic claims to be more unified than it is. The only real difference between it and the bickering First Order admirals in structure at this point is that the Republic is using the same name.”

“So one more organization claiming legitimacy won’t make much difference, will it?” Rose asked with a gleam in her eye – it wasn’t really mutiny, or treason, considering the Republic had already disavowed the Resistance.

Though, while the train of thought was taking them out fast and deep, Poe had to pump the brakes a little, just in the name of ensuring that they were all going in with their eyes open. “We take our discharges, pool our resources, put together our own little... what, nation? Just like that? I thought we were trying to restore peace and freedom to the galaxy. This sounds a lot like forming a new Resistance against what we’re afraid the Republic will do.” Not that he was against it in theory, but... Well, he was a General of the Resistance, in effect, one of its leaders. To just jump at causing more upheaval in the galaxy, especially in a time of rebuilding... It was easy to call it subversion for the sake of subversion, rather than trying to do the right thing, even at a difficult time.

But Finn was already on that point. “What they sent a message that they expect to do,” he said, tapping the datapad Rose had dropped. “Remember, the message said they’re not pursuing charges ‘at this time.’ Even if that’s true... the First Order used planet destroyers. Someone our there lost someone to those, and they’ll want revenge. They’ll want to string up someone – anyone – they can get their hands on, because they will be the face of the First Order. Even if it’s someone who was no more than a victim of them, and only barely escaped. If they didn’t pick up a blaster and fight, they’ll say, then they’re still the enemy. The First Order was an existential threat, how could you not fight back, they’ll say. And there’ll be just enough people who agree to give them the opportunity to pin the blame on those victims.” Finn looked around the room to all three of his compatriots. “We are not going to let that happen.”

Considering that he’d brought up the objection more in the name of making sure that they weren’t doing this in the name of keeping up a fight that had concluded, Poe couldn’t agree more. “You’re damn right,” he said, a confident – one might call it ‘cocky,’ if it wasn’t backed up with experience and determination – grin on his face. 

“If we’re doing this,” Connix started, the ‘if’ being superfluous, given that they all had already committed themselves, “we’ll need a base of operations. A place to gather and start from. We can’t stay here,” she pointed out, motioning to the bunker they’d been using since before Exegol. “This is a target. Until we have legitimacy in the New Republic’s eyes, as a representative at the table or power to ally with, they’d be within their rights to declare us a pirate gang, send a few cruisers to arrest us. Or vaporize us.”

That drew them up short. They all didn’t really have an immediate option – Finn mostly knew worlds that were sites of Resistance bases that they’d hopped through between the battles of Crait and Exegol or worlds that had been under the First Order’s banner, which put most of them under various warlords. The only world that he could easily think of that didn’t fit that description was Jakku, and... No. The others had similar problems – the worlds they could think of were Republic aligned.

And then, a fifth set of boots entered the room, followed by a familiar rolling droid. Rey took in the group, deep in contemplation. She smiled slightly at the sight. “And I thought I was the Jedi around here,” she said.

After the greetings and the catching her up, she gave it some thought of her own. And then, she seemed to hit upon an idea. “There’s a place mentioned in the Jedi texts. A place I was thinking would be a good place to start trying to rebuild the Jedi. Or... build their successors, I suppose. I don’t know if they’d be “Jedi,” considering... Well, everything.” If the Jedi’s time had passed, it left room for something not quite Jedi to grow in their place.

But the very thought seemed to be perfect in Finn’s mind. “Jedi – or not-Jedi – and stormtroopers, working together? You think that’ll work?” he asked, though the more the thought rolled around in his mind, the more he liked the image of the heirs to the guardians of the Republic and those who’d rejected the Republic’s enemies banding together.

Rey nodded. “I think it needs to. The histories of the Jedi show that things like the Empire, the First Order, come about when the Jedi are too focused on preserving something like the Republic, something so massive and sprawling that it will collapse in on itself. So whatever I build... It’s not going to be in service to the Republic, or any government specifically. We’ll help where we can, but our purpose... It will be to help others. And it won’t be isolated from the people of the galaxy. The non-Force users... They need a place, a place of respect, in this. People who remind those who come after me, after us that... the galaxy is alive. The galaxy is full of people, people who deserve respect as much as they do. It’s when that’s forgotten that the Sith can return. I’m not fool enough to believe it can’t, but I want to do what I can to hold back that possibility. And I want the people I care about there, to remind me that... there’s so much more worth in the galaxy. Love and beauty that... we shouldn’t separate ourselves from, just because we’re capable of things the average person isn’t.”

There was a gentle but moving passion to her words. The legacy of the Jedi and the Sith conflict was enough that no one would have blamed Rey for choosing to just let it all go and move on with her life, without any of the ties to these Force using groups. Instead, though, she was going to forge a new path, a new way forward. The legacy she’d been given would be the start of something new, and, hopefully, something better.

“So... Where are we going, then?” Rose asked. 

“Jedha.” 

The others shared looks – it wasn’t a planet they recognized, but that didn’t mean much. The galaxy was full of planets, after all, full of potential worlds. 

Seeing their unfamiliarity, she continued. “It once was a home to those who celebrated the Force. The texts are... ambiguous, but I don’t think it was purely Jedi or Sith, but some mixing of the two, and maybe others. It once had mines of kyber crystals. But it was devastated by the Empire. For decades, it’s been recovering. It’s still recovering. But with the Empire and the First Order gone...”

“A chance to let something new, something... beautiful rise from the ashes,” Rose said, smiling. “I’m sold.”

Connix nodded as well. “It sounds perfect. Both as a place of new beginnings and... of symbolism,” she said, a cheeky grin forming at the idea of rubbing a symbol of their own in the face of the Republic officials who’d tried to reduce the Resistance to one. 

Getting his “General Face” back into place, Poe looked around the table. “In that case, it sounds like we’ve all got work to do here. Rose, Connix? Start figuring out who’s willing to go with us on this. Strictly volunteer. We’ve asked a lot of our people already, I don’t want any of them to feel obligated to join up with us just for the sake of continuity of service.” He figured most of the survivors of Black Squadron – Jessika and Karé in particular – would sign on no matter what, and he had a handful of others he’d put likely wagers on, but he didn’t want anyone to feel like they had to. And they certainly would if General Poe Dameron came to them, asking them to stand in opposition to the Republic.

Supporting his co-general, Finn nodded. “I’ll start looking through First Order files we got from their ships over Exegol. They might have some indications of where any other deserters might have left or even ended up. Once I find a place, we can head out, collect them.”

Invigorated with the idea of being part of founding something as influential as the Jedi had been, Rose was already rising, grabbing her datapad back up so she could start handling the logistics. “I’ll check the databases, see if there’s any information on Jedha that might tell us where we could build a base, a structure we could adapt, something. Best to know if we’re starting from scratch before we get to work,” she said. Connix rose beside her, nodding her agreement. Implicitly accepting the assignment as a dismissal, they headed out. 

Rey may have had more to say, but before she could, a yawn burst out of her, seemingly to her surprise.

The look on her face was hard not to laugh at, given how she seemed completely shocked and even offended that her body would dare betray her to the weakness that was sleepiness, particularly in front of an audience. “You’d better go get some sleep, not-Jedi Master Rey,” Finn said, his “command tone” coming out too silly to take seriously, but still enough to make it clear that he was worried for her and wasn’t going to let her argue with him.

“I suppose you’re right. Teach me to make the trip to Tatooine by myself,” she said, rising. BB-8, who’d been politely silent to that point, gave an indignant bleep, and she corrected herself. “Aside from you, BB.” The little droid made a satisfied sound.

“While you’re sleeping, come up with a better name than ‘not-Jedi.’ You’ll thank me – and yourself – for that later,” Poe added. Rey smiled and made her exit.

With just Poe and Finn left in the room, the weight of what they’d been discussing seemed to finally sink in for Poe. “Finn, are we really planning some kind of subversion of the New Republic?”

“Might be putting it a little strong. Seems more like we’re trying to prevent the Republic from doing something that it would regret later.” He scowled slightly, shaking his head. “The Republic sat back, let the First Order pull itself together, kidnap children and indoctrinate them into their army. You’ll forgive me for not being ready to run to their banner when I have an option.”

That hit hard for Poe, as he realized that Finn had truthfully every reason to just let the Republic burn. After he’d left the First Order, his loyalty had been to the Resistance, and that had only come after he’d been ready to run, repeatedly. The Republic, as an entity, was a lot easier for him to view as the enemy. Even if it had originated in the First Order’s indoctrination, it was still a place he could go to easily. He didn’t see the Republic as inherently good.

And, if Poe was honest, neither did he. Not after they’d shoved General Organa to the margins for the sin of being the biological daughter of Darth Vader. As if that made her a traitor to the Republic she’d been a leading figure of assembling. In the aftermath of the destruction of the second Death Star, the assembling of the New Republic, if she’d really wanted power, she could have taken it. She had all the opportunity and support. But no, she’d championed a democratic process. And, in response, that democratic process decided that they didn’t want her in the halls of power because of her bloodline. 

Really, it seemed like the Republic had failed to learn any lesson, going all the way back to the days of Chancellor Palpatine and the Old Republic.

“You really expect they’d take any stormtrooper deserters and execute them?” Poe asked, though he could picture it a little too vividly. A particular nightmare scenario involved them deciding that Finn’s Resistance service didn’t matter and taking him as well – if the Republic would vilify Leia Organa over her bloodline, something as simple as Finn having fought against the First Order and becoming a Resistance general could just as easily happen.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Finn thought that over. “Intentionally? No. Not at first. But the first one’s the hardest.”

He wasn’t just talking about the Republic.

Poe reached out, taking Finn’s hand. “Hey. Any time you killed an Order trooper, it was in the name of self-defense.” Finn inhaled to argue that point, so Poe barreled on. “AND the fact that you feel guilty about afterwards... That speaks to how much you didn’t actually want to do it. You never wanted to kill anyone. But we were at war, and it was the only way to protect yourself. To protect the people who you cared about.” He offered a supportive smile. “That you want to try and make it so that those who were like you, taken from their families, forced to become the First Order’s tools, and now might be pawns for the Republic to mistreat and scapegoat... That says more about your character than the fact that you fired a blaster and fought against them.” Seeing that Finn was still struggling with the facts a little, he continued. “Remember when we met Jannah? She was excited to meet you, to meet the rebel stormtrooper. They know the indoctrination that they went through, and that you went through, and they know that a life or death battle is not the time to try and break through it.”

Finally, Finn sighed, nodding, if a bit reluctantly. “You’re not wrong. It’s just... hard to realize that I didn’t give a second thought about it at the time. But... thinking twice during a firefight is going to get you killed.” Twining his fingers with Poe’s, he gave a gentle squeeze. “Just... You know, I think I’d gotten myself to thinking that the fighting was going to be over, now that the First Order was defeated, and Palpatine, and Hux, and Ren, and... and Phasma... They’re all gone, but...”

“But it seems like this just doesn’t end.” Poe knew the feeling. His father had spoken about it, not long after Poe had told him he was joining up with General Organa and the Resistance. That after the Battle at Endor, they’d thought it was over. That all that was left was the cleanup. Then it turned into another war.

Was that in their future, too? Was that the real reason they were planning this, to be ready when the successors of the First Order cropped up as well?

“I can’t say that we’ll ever be done fighting. I mean... At this point, it feels like fighting is a way of life. The fight’s been going on since before we were born, and maybe it’s gonna keep going long after we’re gone. I can’t say. I don’t see the future. But what I can say is that... what we’re doing right now, what we were talking about with the others... It’s not about fighting. It’s about giving us one less reason to fight. We set up something for those stormtrooper deserters now, when people are too exhausted from war to keep going, we’re gonna make it that it won’t be this that they pick up weapons over. Maybe that’ll be enough. Maybe it won’t. We can’t control others. That was the whole point of all this, right?”

Earned him a fond smile, so, Poe thought he’d take it. He leaned in, giving Finn a soft kiss. 

When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against Finn’s own. “Hey. Whatever happens next, you know you’re gonna have me, right?”

The smile he got this time was dazzling. “I know. Love you.”

Poe felt like, regardless of the way things shook out from their plans to protect the stormtrooper deserters, build up Rey’s not-Jedi (they really DID need to work on that name...), hold the Republic’s feet to the fire in being the government they claimed to want to be... Things had a good chance of working out right. 

Granted, the General and the government she’d helped to establish had probably thought the same thing. But hopefully, the example they’d had of the failure of the New Republic, the formation of the First Order, it would create an atmosphere with the new government, awareness that they could create another First Order, another Empire. The fact was, no matter the protections they made, the potential would always be there. They would need to be aware of the possibility, not just assume it would never happen again.

And, if the New Republic failed to pay attention, maybe Rey’s people – Rey and Finn’s people, Poe reminded himself, given Finn’s own growing affinity with the Force, on top of the nation they were planning to build for the deserter troopers – would be on hand to remind them.

Poe sighed as he realized the magnitude of the duties they were taking on. “And here I’d thought that was going to be the end of it, that we’d be able to rest.”

“Did you really?” Finn asked with a chuckle. He wrapped his arms around Poe, pulling him firmly into his lap. “Because if there’s one thing I’m really beginning to realize, it’s that these things never end. They just loop around.”

“Maybe. But maybe we’re gonna be the ones to break the cycle. Wouldn’t that be something?” If the galaxy operated in some kind of never-ending cycle... Poe liked the idea of being the one, of he and his lover and their friends being the ones, who broke it. Who said ‘we must make it better,’ rather than ‘let’s go back to what we had before.’ Before had made things rife for the change to the worst that sapient beings could inflict on one another – slavery, depersonalization, fascism... They could watch the New Republic as it tried not to be what it had been before.

Of course, there was the possibility of them falling prey to those vices themselves. Maybe that was always the way of such things, that good intentions led to bad ends. 

“Hey.” Finn’s voice pulled Poe out of the reverie, making him realize his mind had wandered away for longer than he’d thought. “You’re thinking about something.”

“Just wondering about how we ended up in this position.” Off Finn’s lecherous look, Poe realized the double entendre and chuckled. “You know what I mean. That the galaxy is just... repeating the same old cycle of falling to the same bad end, over and over.”

“It’s only happened twice so far, right? There’s still a chance of getting out of that cycle.” Finn sighed. “I know what you mean though. It doesn’t seem crazy to be worried that it’s all going to be torn down again. Given all that happened to make the First Order... I do understand why you’re concerned.” He shook his head. “It’ll take watching. Paying attention. We can’t just assume that things will never go back.”

The matter was something that they probably would never get a good answer to. With some luck, they’d be long gone by the time that the worst happened, if it happened. He didn’t want to think it would, but... It could happen.

And again, Finn recognized that Poe was falling into that mental trap. “Hey.” Finn made him look him in the eye. “We can’t control the future. Just try and make every effort to make it better.” 

It really didn’t set any of the concerns in Poe’s head to rest – the best of intentions had been foundation before, and that had done nothing to prevent the Empire. And it’d be foolish to believe that the driving force had been Palpatine individually. 

But... Well, it would be what it would, wouldn’t it? There was no way to do more than set the best example they could. 

He sighed. “I guess I just keep coming back to the idea that... Didn’t the heroes of the Rebellion think about these things? Didn’t the General, or Han Solo, or Luke Skywalker... And yet here we were, in what amounts to the same fight all over again. If they couldn’t avoid things falling apart, how can we?”

“Maybe we don’t make that choice,” Finn said. “I mean, there’s a galaxy of people out there, making their own choices. We can’t choose for them. But we can do our best, and hope that inspires others.”

That actually got a smile out of Poe. “A fair point. I remember the choice of one particular stormtrooper, managing to change the course of everything.” If Finn had opened fire on that village in Jakku, he’d never have decided to run from the First Order, or rescue a Resistance pilot who’d been taken captive, or discovered a scavenger who would chart the course of the galaxy going forward. “You know, Finn, say what you will about everything else... You’re my hero. You’ve done everything and more, and... I still think you deserved better out of all this, had your efforts recognized by people. Everyone’s focused on Rey fighting Palpatine, and... Okay, I don’t blame them, that was incredible, but... You did amazing, incredible things too, but... You deserve more recognition.” Finn ‘just’ being a co-General of the Resistance felt so small in comparison.

But Finn just shrugged. “I don’t need ‘recognition.’ I’ve got things that I never would have with the First Order. I have friends, I have a purpose I believe in – by my choice, not the Order’s indoctrination – I have things I want to do that I’m encouraged to do...” He gave Poe a significant look. “I have someone I love, someone who loves me... After the way the First Order treated us, wanted us to be, tried to raise us to be... All of that means a lot to me, no matter what the rest of the galaxy thinks.”

There was wisdom in that. Poe would still rather see the man he loved recognized as the hero that he knew he was but... He was able to find peace in how things were. Poe couldn’t begrudge that. 

The room had begun to feel some odd contradictory mixture of far too open and yet still claustrophobic – the momentousness of the discussion they’d had a short while hung in the air, while the table full of datapads spoke of the responsibilities still on them. 

And right now, Poe didn’t want to think about any of them.

“C’mon,” he said, rising while taking Finn’s hand. “The work can wait. I want to just... show you how much of a hero I think you are.”

Finn, with a wide smile, eagerly followed him out of the room.


End file.
